Welcome to the 21st century!  Chalk up another one for Minnesota NAVHDA.  To go with our new website, we have now put our Membership Directory into a downloadable pdf format, available to be downloaded and printed by any member, or easily accessed  and read online.

This represents a great savings of chapter resources.  This saves not only the printing, binding, and postage costs required to mail out a paper directory to 200+ members, but also the time it takes to create and distribute that directory every year.  In addition, this new electronic directory can be updated regularly as new members join, move, etc.

Pete and Drew are still working out the bugs for usage on mobile devices, but in the meantime it’s still another step forward for Minnesota NAVHDA.  Check it out! (and don’t forget to print a copy for your less computer savvy friends…Mitch?…)

I’m sure we’ve all read or seen quotes to the effect of “Sometimes bad things have to happen before good things can.”   At Minnesota NAVHDA we had our own experience with that concept this year, when one of our founding members, Joe Dolejsi, suddenly passed away in January.  The good news, was that from Joe’s passing was created the Joe Dolejsi Annual Youth Scholarship, the purpose of which is to be used by a youth Minnesota NAVHDA member for training and testing of their dog.

So – the call went out, the applications were received, the ballots counted, and the winner is – drum roll please – Mason Schultz!                                  Mason is a 5th grader at Lincoln Elementary in White Bear Lake, and lives with his folks Cory Schultz and Kirsten Olson, along with his younger brother Bram (plus the animals they foster through the humane society!).  When Mason’s not training his year old pudelpointer pup “Comet” (“Pan American Elora, from Pan American Kennels in Miami, FL), he’s into biking and just being outdoors.  He’ll complete his hunter safety course this month.  Oh yeah – and he’s a bit of an artist as well – as an accomplished glassblower.  It takes all kinds to work these dogs!

In addition to the scholarship providing Mason with a family membership in MN NAVHDA for a year, he’ll also be covered for his training day registrations, 10-week obedience class, training nights registrations and grounds fees, and a Mock NA or UT test.   The fine folks at Kelley Farms have even donated an annual pass for their grounds.

What will he do with all this?  Perhaps Mason himself says it best:

“My name is Mason P. Schultz.  I am 11 years old.  My family got a Pudelpointer in May, 2017.  Her name is Comet.  We just started taking her to training classes in Stillwater, at the Washington County Fairgrounds.  My dad and I go together, but I am in charge of training her, and I like training her a lot.

Comet went hunting with my dad and I this fall.  She is a versatile hunting dog.  She is a pretty good listener, but she sometimes forgets.  I like to work with her and would really like to keep taking classes.  I think that I can help her to be a really good versatile hunting dog – to go after ducks, pheasants, grouse, and other types of birds.  Also, I have been teaching her some other things too, like how she should point for a bird.  And how she needs to have her own place to go when people are over.

I would like to be in this next class session because I want to learn how I could improve my skills and her skills.  I would really like to enter competitions with her and see how well we could do together.  I would like to be a good trainer and dog handler, which I think this class would help me do.

I really like owning a hunting dog because when you ware hunting you have to scour all over to try and find a bird or two.  But if you have a dog, you find the birds much more quickly.

If I get into this class my goals are to learn even more about dog training, to improve my skills, to be able to teach my dog new advanced skills, and to enter my first competitions.

Thank you for considering my application for this youth scholarship.”

There you have it.  Thank you, Mason, for applying to be our first recipient of the Joe Dolejsi Annual Youth Scholarship!  I sure that Joe is smiling about this right now.

If you would like to make a tax deductible contribution to this fund in memory of Joe, please follow this link: GOFUNDME  The Joe Dolejsi Youth Scholarship Fund

Thanks everyone for your great participation with the training survey!  The number of people and dogs that showed up last year for our training and testing days came as a surprise, which left us scrambling for more training hours and testing days to add to our calendar. As a result of this survey, we now have a good idea of what to expect this season.   I can guarantee we’ll be adding dogs!  Which means that we will need more birds, more hours and more help!

Your Board of Directors have been very busy trying to figure out how to stay ahead of your needs.  You will likely see some changes this year, both in training and testing.   These changes will be shared at a later time.

We are an organization of volunteers and there is tremendous effort that goes into this program.   We ask that you recognize these efforts, be patient, and please volunteer when you can!

This is your club!

Mark Jacobs
Director of Training

This article was posted in the February 2018 issue of NAVHDA’s Versatile Hunting Dog Magazine:

According to the NAVHDA AIMS book, The Utility Preparatory Test (UPT) is designed “to evaluate the dog midway in its training towards becoming a reliable versatile gun dog,” and the Utility Test (UT) is “designed to test a dog’s usefulness to the on-foot hunter in all phases of hunting, both before and after the shot, in field and marsh, and on different species of game.”

For an inexperienced handler, the UPT is a great introduction to the hunting team concept and the different areas of focus for the full UT. There is no age limit for a dog in the UPT, so it can also be a good way to evaluate a dog that missed running a Natural Ability test.

But what about the UPT as a measure of a dog’s usefulness to the hunter? Years ago, I had a Lab and then a Boykin spaniel. I was a novice bird-dog man, but we found, flushed, and shot birds and had fun. With some retrieving and steadiness training, it would have been a lot more fun (and much safer). There were shots taken that should not have been—low-flying birds with dogs on their tails. There was a time in Iowa that I dropped a rooster across a dredge ditch, and the dog refused to go across. It was half a mile to a bridge, and I became the dog on that one mile retrieve. For those of you who do not hunt waterfowl and feel all the water work required of a Utility dog does not apply to your hunting style, think again. Pheasants, grouse and woodcock all live near water, and it seems almost every year one of my dogs retrieves an upland bird from water.

In the NAVHDA UPT, a dog is evaluated across many areas, but, for the purposes of the points I am trying to make with this article, let’s focus on Steadiness (in the field and at the blind) and Retrieving (land and water).

In NAVHDA testing, Field Steadiness is brokendown into four parts as described here:

“Steady to Flush” – Judging “Steady to Flush” begins when the dog is aware of the presence of the handler. Think of “Steady to Flush” as behavior during the flushing period. The steady to flush judgment ends when the bird leaves the ground.

“Steady to Wing” – Judging “Steady to Wing” begins when the bird leaves the ground and ends when the gun is fired.

“Steady to Shot” – Judging “Steady to Shot” begins when the gun is fired and ends when the bird hits the ground.

“Steady to Fall” – Judging “Steady to Fall” begins when the bird hits the ground and ends when the dog is sent for the retrieve.

Continue reading “Steadiness & Retrieve Training-The UPT Test”

At the NAVHDA Annual Meeting in Las Vegas on January 20th, the Executive Committee passed a motion requiring that all owners and handlers of tested dogs be members of NAVHDA.  This rule will go into effect July 1st, 2018.

“The EC approved a motion, to become effective July 1, 2018, to make it a requirement that Owners (at least one owner of co-owned dogs) and Handlers of dogs must be NAVHDA Members in order to enter a NAVHDA test. The statement “…must be NAVHDA Members…” refers to the NAVHDA parent organization commonly known as NAVHDA International.”

Please note that this also includes Youth Handlers, who will require their own NAVHDA Youth Membership Membership Application

2018 Annual Meeting Highlights

Please pass this information on to non-members you know who might be planning to test after July 1st!

2018 Handler Clinic (2 Day Clinic)

  • Where: Kelley Farms (Kelley Land & Cattle Company), 11425 155th St N, Marine on St Croix, MN 55047
  • When: Saturday, June 9th and Sunday, June 10th, 2018
  • Time: 8:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.
  • Cost: $130.00 (members and non-members)

The Handler Clinic is an educational tool developed by NAVHDA to help dog owners and handlers understand the testing system. The clinics are conducted by designated trained leaders; all of whom are NAVHDA Senior Judges. During the two-day clinic weekend, participants experience all aspects of a Natural Ability, Utility Preparatory, and Utility Test. The first few hours of each day are devoted to informal classroom instruction. There is discussion of Test mechanics, the scoring system and NAVHDA philosophy.

The group then goes out to the field to judge and score dogs being run in the actual Test process. After each dog has run and been scored, there is a discussion of performance and scoring as observed by the participants and the clinic leader. The discussion includes strengths or weaknesses of training and handling observed in the demonstrations, and how they may have affected the dog’s inherited skills.

Who Should Attend?  People with their first pup see how other dogs work and gain insight into what their pup is doing and why. This helps them to develop their pup’s talents and improve performance in weak areas. ➢ Novice handlers learn how NAVHDA evaluates versatile dogs, and are better prepared to handle their dogs in a test. ➢ Experienced handlers gain a deeper, more technical knowledge, of how the team of dog and handler are judged. ➢ Breeders learn what to look for in their breeding stock and their progeny, and how to use NAVHDA records obtained through our Test Records for selective breeding. ➢ For aspiring NAVHDA Judges, attending a Handler Clinic is one of the first steps in our Apprentice Judge Program.

Download Event Flyer and Entry Form

Question:  What do you get when you combine bird dogs, shotguns, flying pheasants, comradery and competitive spirit on a fine summer day?

Answer:  Minnesota NAVHDA’s annual Pheasant Championship, of course!

This year marks the 40th annual running of this event, to be held at Major Avenue Hunt Club near Glencoe, MN on June 23rd .  To celebrate this milestone, 2018 entry fees have been reduced to $125.00 per team.

This is not a training or testing day!  This is a fun event open to all members (and their friends as hired guns).   Steadiness is optional and retrieving standards relaxed!  Teams consist of 2 gunners with one dog.

REAL MONEY AND REAL PRIZES are at stake here, as well as BRAGGING RIGHTS!  70% of prize money goes to the #1 team – last year’s winners walked away with over $400.  Need more info?  Contact Bryce Adams at (651) 387-8556 or bryce.adams@exceleng.net.

Full Event Info, Rules and Printable Entry Forms Click Here

See the results from 2017 here:  https://mnnavhda.org/2017-pheasant-championship/

Hope to see you there!

Please read this message from our President-Rolf Rogers

With the recent revision of our web page and our presence on Facebook, we have been provided improved ways to communicate with our Chapter members.  As a result, the Board has decided to transfer the publication of the Chapter newsletter to the new web page and discontinue issuing a stand-alone newsletter.  We believe this change will provide you with more timely, quality information than could otherwise be achieved with a monthly and often semi-monthly newsletter.

The Chapter has grown and along with that, the need for great communications becomes increasingly important but difficult to execute.  As a result, we have also determined the position of Vice President should be changed to Vice President & Director of Communications.  This restructuring, if approved will assure timely and accurate information is always shared with the Chapter.

Along with this change, we would plan to discontinue the appointed post of Newsletter Editor.  Responsibilities associated with this post become part of the VP & Dir. of Communications’ responsibilities.

To revise the job description and eliminate the appointed post of Newsletter Editor requires a motion and vote by the Chapter to modify the bylaws at the annual meeting/Fable Fest. Members at least 18 years of age may vote at this meeting, provided dues are current.  Attached is the motion for your review in advance of Fable Fest. The Board of Directors has unanimously approved this motion and we ask for your support. Should you have any questions about this information, please feel free to contact me at 612.219.4109 or by email: rolf.rogers@mnnavhda.com

Click Here to Review the Motion

I look forward to seeing you at Fable Fest!

Rolf

President MN NAVHDA

There are people in this world who, wherever they go, somebody’s gonna’ recognize them.  When they walk into a room, you know someone is going to raise a glass and say “Hey!  Over here!”  When you hear a big laugh, you turn and see gathered a group enjoying themselves, with that same person of quick wit and good humor near the center of it all.  In the Minnesota NAVHDA world that person was our own Joe Dolejsi.  But our Joe was no ordinary Joe, as the rest of the NAVHDA world will attest.

Last January I had the privilege of representing the Minnesota chapter at the NAVHDA annual meeting in North Carolina.  Imagine my delight when, at the height of the awards banquet, two honorary awards of handmade knives were awarded to Joe Dolejsi and Joe Raia.  Two great guys – our guys – being honored.  How could I not sit just a little straighter and stand a little taller?  After all, they were ours!

Since neither man was present in North Carolina, I was entrusted to bring the knives to Minnesota, and present them at our chapter’s annual meeting.  I had with me NAVHDA president Dave Trahan’s notes detailing their incredible accomplishments.  Joe Dolejsi’s hall of fame stats were eye popping:  Joe joined NAVHDA in 1983.  Over 27 years as a judge, Joe judged 1793 dogs at 218 chapter tests.  He led 14 Handler Clinics.  For NAVHDA International he served as the Director of Testing, Director of Judge Development, Treasurer and President of NAVHDA across a span of 21 years.  All this in addition to training his own dogs to Invitational status.

What the stats don’t tell you is what he has meant to us at Minnesota NAVHDA, as well as the rest of NAVHDA.  There are no statistics to show the number of people he mentored, helped, influenced, taught, and befriended over the years.   There are no records of handlers trained and coached at training nights.  No recordings of good times shared and stories swapped.  Joe was a husband, father, grandfather, uncle, brother and son, and what does remain is a compelling legacy of which his family can be proud.

We in NAVHDA are also a part of his family – I think Joe would agree.  And yes, of that we can certainly be proud.   Hunt ‘em up, Joe.  Rest in peace, my friend.

Services will be held for Joe in Minnetonka on Saturday, February 3rd.  Details can be found at http://www.startribune.com/obituaries/detail/0000239337/?fullname=joseph-k-dolejsi